Bad People
by MACRA
Summary: "There are bad people in the world. They do bad things to other people. And that is down to them, not anyone else."
**Author's note:**

Round 5 of the Pro-Bending Circuit - Murder Mystery, 2nd story (Follows "Murder or Accident" by karanathefirebender)

Character: the victim's relative

Prompts: (word) darkness, (emotion) guilt, (restriction) no character names

Words (excluding author's note): 977

* * *

The gardener's shed was cold and dark and too close to the house, but the child couldn't think of another place to hide. So she sat shivering in a corner looking at nothing, waiting for the bad man to come looking for her. Maybe she should have kept running. Just run and run and run, straight away from the house. But now that she had stopped, she couldn't start again. She couldn't move. She could only sit there, staring into the darkness.

The first she knew that someone else had come to the shed was when there was a knock on the door. She couldn't help making a little gasp of fear. Then she put her hands over her mouth and tried to keep still and quiet.

"Look, kid. I'm not here to hurt you." The voice was a woman's voice. "I'm a police officer. I'm here to take you to your father. He's kind of worried about you." She didn't answer. She just screwed her eyes tight shut and tried to breathe more quietly.

"You've probably been told that you shouldn't trust strangers, and that's really good advice," the woman's voice called out. "It's OK if you want to stay in there. I can signal to one of the other officers, they can bring your father out here. But I am going to point out that if I meant you harm, I wouldn't knock on the door. I'd just come in. Anyway, I'll move away from the door. If you want to come out and get into the warm sooner, I'm here, but I won't open the door myself, and I'll guard it until your father gets here."

She sat for a while. The door stayed shut and the woman didn't say anything more. She was tired, she was cold, and now in the silence after hearing another human voice she was lonely. She got stiffly to her feet and went to the door of the shed and opened it.

Outside there was a woman in a police uniform. Her back was to the shed when the door opened. She was waving a flashlight back and forth in the direction of the house. At the sound of the door, she turned around. She didn't step closer, just crouched down where she stood, waiting.

The girl didn't step from the shed. "You're going to take me to Daddy?"

The policewoman nodded. "If you want to come with me. He's back at the house."

"Mommy's dead, isn't she?"

The policewoman let out a sigh. "Yeah. I won't lie to you. I'm sorry, kid."

Finally, the girl stepped out of the shed and walked over to the policewoman. The woman had short dark hair and pale skin. She frowned a lot and she had two scars on one cheek. It should have made her look scary, but there was something kind in her eyes. "It's my fault," she blurted to the officer.

The woman raised her eyebrows. "If this is a confession, it's my duty to inform you that you have the right to remain silent." The girl just stared at her. The officer sighed again. "Right. Stupid joke. Wrong time. Look, I'm pretty sure that you're wrong, but do you want to tell me why you think it's your fault?"

"I wanted to look at the Moon." She paused. The policewoman just nodded for her to go on. "I'm supposed to be in bed, but I wanted to look at the moon, and you can't see it from my room, so I got up to sneak to the other side of the house, and I saw this strange man in the hall, and I didn't say anything, I was scared and I hid and I didn't say anything, and then he broke down the door to Mommy's sitting room, and I heard her scream, and I just ran, and…"

"OK, OK. Just slow down a second." For the first time, the policewoman reached out to touch her, laying a hand gently on her shoulder. "I get it. You think it's your fault because you didn't do anything." The girl nodded. "You know, if someone asked me what they should do if they saw a strange person in their home, you know what I would tell them?" The girl shook her head. "I'd tell them, 'Keep quiet, hide, and first chance you get run.' So you're three for three. Good job."

"But…"

"The thing of it is," the woman said over her objection, "is that you don't know what would have happened if you'd yelled. Maybe everything would have been better. Maybe nothing would have changed. Maybe it would have made things worse. You…don't…know." The girl looked down at her feet. "I don't expect you to believe me tonight. The department will give your father the name of some people you can talk to who are way smarter than me and who can help you with what happened tonight. But can I tell you one thing that I know as a cop?"

"What?"

"There are bad people in the world. They do bad things to other people. And that is down to them, not anyone else. It is certainly not down to you. OK?"

She dug her toe into the ground but she nodded. "OK."

"So let's get you back inside with your dad." The policewoman stood up, brushing down her uniform. Hesitantly, the little girl held out her hand. After a moment, the woman nodded and took her hand and led her back to the house.


End file.
